


Boxed In

by ARtheBard



Series: JEmily Forever [4]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2017-04-29
Packaged: 2018-10-25 10:15:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 18,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10762194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ARtheBard/pseuds/ARtheBard
Summary: While investigating a series of local home invasions that became kidnappings, Hotch and JJ are attacked. Can the team find the unsubs in time to save JJ or will she end up boxed into a coffin?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story was the start of my amusement with the reader's feelings for Will. In my stories he's a nice guy, a good father, and a friend to JJ and Emily. I based that characterization on my sister's relationship with her ex. They maintained a friendship and together raised their daughters even though they had divorced and married others. Some readers were furious Emily wasn't the daddy and wanted Will gone. Others just wanted to ignore his existence totally but I needed him for plot points down the road. Others liked that the way I portrayed him because he was treated so ugly in other stories. So, be warned, Will is a good man and yes he pops in every once in a while. Enjoy!

“Who’s that, Henry? Who’s that? I bet it’s Daddy! I bet it is! Let’s go see!”

Emily holds the cackling little boy firmly with her left hand as her right hand guides her electric wheelchair towards the front door of her temporary home. Looking in the pane of glass beside the door is Will LaMontagne. His eyes light up when he sees Henry.

“I told you, Henry! It’s Daddy! Yay Daddy!”

Henry is clapping his hands as Emily unlocks the front door and scoots away from it so Will can come in. He smiles at his son.

“Hey, there, Little Man! How you doin’?”

He extends his arms and Henry happily goes to him. Emily smiles at the reunion. After Will finishes greeting his son, he looks down at Emily.

“Wow, Emily Prentiss in a wheelchair. Never thought I’d see that,” he kids her.

“Yeah, well, you ever tried to walk on crutches with 3 broken ribs. Trust me: not fun,” Emily replies dryly.

“I can imagine. How much longer?”

“Two more weeks and they’ll take another x-ray. I did some pretty good damage to it. The ribs are feeling better but,” she grins, “Henry loves riding with me.”

Will laughs. “That’s great.” He stares at Emily a moment then looks at Henry. He kisses his son on the forehead and looks back to Emily. “Emily, I haven’t had a chance to thank you for this travel fund. I would have sold everything I own to stay in Henry’s life. I’m glad I don’t have to do that.”

“Me, too, Will. I hope Henry grows up to be as good a man as you. He can’t do that if you can’t see each other,” she says sincerely.

The two stand in companionable silence for a few moments. Henry starts to babble at Will, quite obviously telling his Daddy all that he had missed the last few weeks. Emily smiles as Will acknowledges everything as if he can understand.

“Hey, Will, you want to stay for dinner? JJ will be home soon and I’m sure she’d like to say hello.”

“I hope you don’t think me a jerk, Em, but I really just want to spend time with Henry. I’m only here until Sunday and—”

“Hey, no need to explain. I understand.” She wheels into the next room and grabs a bag sitting there. “Here’s plenty of clothes and diapers for the weekend. But if you need anything else, give us a call.”

Will slips the shoulder strap over his shoulder and grabs the car seat sitting in the hallway. “Thanks, Emily. Tell JJ I’ll talk to her on Sunday.”

“I will. You all have fun.” She looks at Henry. “And don’t you go getting your Daddy into any trouble, okay?” Henry laughs and claps. “Gee, Will, I’m not sure if that was an okay or a ‘make sure you have bail money’ laugh.”

Will laughs. “I think we’ll be just fine. As long as he doesn’t try to steal a monkey from the zoo tomorrow we should be safe.”

The two LaMontagne men head out of the house to spend their weekend together. Emily waves from the front door, her heart already missing Henry. Once they are gone, she heads for the kitchen. It’s 4 p.m. and if she has timed it right the romantic dinner she had planned for JJ should be ready by the time the media liaison finishes fighting Friday night traffic.

At 6:00 dinner is nearly ready. Emily is setting the table when she gets a text.

_“E, there’s an accident at my exit. I can freaking SEE my exit but we are stopped. See you as soon as I can. Love you, J”_

Emily laughs. “Of course there’s an accident. The one night I actually have dinner ready you get stuck in traffic.” Instead of that she texts back.

“ _No problem. I’ll try to whip something up for dinner. Love you, E”_

Emily looks at the table. There is really nothing else for her to do. Then she looks down at the jeans and t-shirt she wears. She gets a wicked gleam in her eye.

“Actually, Agent Prentiss, there   _is_  something more you can do,” she says out loud to herself.

She heads into the bedroom to change into a black satin negligee with matching robe. She touches up her make-up, doing that thing with her eyelashes that drives JJ crazy. As she finishes, she smiles at herself in the mirror.

“Agent Jareau, prepare to be seduced.”

Emily is back in the kitchen putting the rolls in a basket when she hears the front door open and JJ immediately start complaining.

“I can’t wait to move back to DC so we can be going against traffic instead of with it everyday. And if people would just learn to drive it wouldn’t take almost 2 hours for a 30 minute commute.” Emily listens as JJ kicks her shoes off in the hallway. “Dinner smells good, Em. What are we having?”

Emily had been waiting. As she hears JJ start towards the dining nook, she steps out in the hall…and JJ nearly falls on her face. Emily leans seductively back against the wall.

“Just a little something I whipped up,” Emily says huskily.

“Whipped…up…” JJ mumbles, her eyes taking in her satin draped lover.

JJ drops her jacket to the ground as Emily slowly undoes the belt on her robe. As it falls open, JJ gets a look at the swell of Emily’s breasts.

“Oh, Emily…”

“Come get you something to eat, baby,” Emily says suggestively.

“Gladly.”

JJ closes the distance between them and kisses Emily hungrily. She slides the robe off of Emily’s shoulders and kisses her way down the brunette’s neck to the top of her breasts. Emily stops her before she can go lower.

“Now, now, Jennifer. Dinner will get cold.”

“We can heat it up later,” JJ mumbles as she tries to pull the negligee up Emily’s hips. “I’m hungry for something else right now.”

Emily tries to deny the blonde but can’t. She leans back against the wall as JJ kneels down in front of her. A scream rips from Emily as JJ’s tongue slides up one thigh and into the wet folds between her legs. JJ’s tongue swirls around Emily’s clit. The brunette’s hips thrust forward. JJ smiles and enters her with 2 fingers.

“Oh, Jennifer!” Emily screams as she is quickly brought to orgasm.

JJ slowly stands, her hands wrapping around Emily. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. But you’re going to have to carry me to the table because neither one of my legs is working now.”

JJ smiles proudly. She loves that she can turn this strong woman to jelly. She wraps Emily’s left arm over her shoulder and helps her hobble to the table.

“I probably shouldn’t have done that to you while you’re still in a cast. I’m sorry.”

Emily kisses JJ’s temple. “Don’t you ever apologize for making me weak in the knees, babe. It’s one of the things I live for.”

JJ chuckles and finally takes a look at the table. Her eyes widen. “You call this whipping something up?”

“Well, I might have stopped by the market after my doctor’s appointment today.”

“Yeah, you ‘might’ have since I  _know_   we didn’t have any of this in the kitchen.”

The two women share another kiss then sit down for a nice dinner. As they finish, Emily looks up at JJ.

“So, we have a whole weekend without Henry and I’m cleared to have sex again, so whatever should we do?”

JJ smiles. “I say we make sure the doctor is correct about that sex diagnosis by testing you over and over and over again.”

“Why, Agent Jareau, I do believe you want to seduce me.”

“Actually, Agent Prentiss, I already did. I just want to continue to ravage you for the next 48 hours.”

Emily smiles. “Well, then, who am I to argue with such a wonderful plan.”

JJ stands and helps Emily up. They head to their bedroom to reacquaint themselves with what they had been missing the last 4 weeks.


	2. Chapter 2

Garcia’s jaw nearly hits the floor. “Are you _serious?_   All weekend?”

“We barely got our clothes on in time to welcome Henry home,” JJ says smugly.

“Oh, you guys just make me so damn jealous!”

“Why? Don’t you and Kevin have fun?”

“Yeah, but, you know guys are kind of limited in how many times they can do things and then they just want to nap after.” Garcia sighs and slumps down in her chair. “I wish I was a lesbian.”

JJ busts out laughing. “Well, I can’t help you with that one, Pen.”

“Ugh, then stop coming in here and bragging!” She pleads jokingly. She then gets a bit serious. “But she’s okay, right? I mean, except for the leg?”

“She seems to be. She hates being on desk duty and it tore her up when we left for those last 2 cases but she’s going to be fine.”

“Tore her up? Drove me crazy, more like,” Garcia grumbles.

JJ laughs. “Yeah. Sorry about that.”

Garcia shoos JJ out and gets started on her Monday reports. As JJ walks into her office, she glances towards the bullpen and sees Emily already engrossed in one of the case files JJ had dropped off earlier. JJ’s smile widens as Emily, sensing JJ, turns and smiles at her. They exchange a wink and JJ heads into her office.

* * *

 

Emily is trying to figure out how to tell a local detective that the 4 cases he had linked together are actually the work of 4 different people. It was hard to come up with a way to shoot down theories without crushing the spark that can sometimes lead to a true BAU case. But this time the cases were so different she can’t even find the string he used to tie them together.

“I swear, sometimes I wish we’d screen who attends our seminars better,” she mutters, rubbing a hand across her eyes. A shadow falls across her desk and she looks up into the stern face of Section Chief Erin Straus.

“My office, Agent Prentiss. Now.”

Before Emily can respond, Straus spins on her heel and marches out. Emily glances at Morgan and Reid, shrugging. She grabs her cane and hobbles after the bane of their unit. JJ is on the phone but sees Emily following Straus down the hall. JJ’s eyes widen and she also gets a shrug from Emily.

In the chief’s office she points to a chair, which Emily sits in gratefully. The chief looks at her secretary. “We are not to be disturbed.” She closes the door and moves behind her desk. She stares at Emily for an uncomfortably long time. Emily, a master at compartmentalizing her emotions, betrays nothing. Finally, Straus sits forward.

“Agent Prentiss, can you tell me why you would leap off a cliff into icy water without proper safety gear?”

Since 4 weeks had passed since the case in Alaska, Emily doesn’t understand why Straus is just now questioning the actions that were taken. “Yes, ma’am. Marielle Rogers had been a prisoner for 3 days, her hands were bound in front of her, and she was wearing a bikini. Considering the icy water you mentioned, I felt what I was wearing gave me a better chance of saving her than just leaving her fate to the river.”

“There were rescue boats ready to deploy,” Straus points out.

“And they did deploy. And they saved both Rogers and me so I’d say they did a good job.”

Straus had been chewing on the arm of her glasses, something she only does when she has already made a decision. She stares at Emily a moment, more then lays the glasses down, folding her hands in front of her. Emily fights to keep her face neutral.

“Agent Prentiss, I am becoming concerned with the state of your team.”

“ _Becoming_   concerned,” Emily says before censoring herself.

Straus takes a deep breath, looking down her nose at Emily. “Yes.” She picks up a folder and hands it over. “You’re new assignment.”

Emily stares at the folder as if it’s a snake ready to strike. “ _Excuse me_? My   _new_  assignment?”

“Yes. White collar crimes. They expect you later this morning.”

Emily does not take the folder. She stands. “Then they can keep expecting me. I’m a profiler and my place is in the BAU on  _this_  team. And you will have to find a reason  _other_  than me saving someone’s life to move me out.”

“Very well then,” Straus stares into Emily’s eyes. “You have broken the fraternization policy. Turn in your badge and gun and be prepared to leave the premises. Any personal effects will be sent to you.”

The two women stare each other down. Emily slowly leans over onto the desk. Her voice is deadly calm as she speaks, belying the turmoil inside of her. “Never in my life have I asked my parents to intervene in my career. But I swear to you, _Chief_ ,” the title is said with distain, “if you try to split up this team I will make one call and you will be running the office in Fargo, North Dakota. And if you don’t think I will do it, try me.”

Emily finally takes the folder and rips it in half. She drops it back on the desk. Straus stares at her in shock. Emily picks up her cane and leaves the office.

Straus reaches for her phone, planning to call security to have Emily removed. But her hand hesitates over the handset. She looks out the door at the back of the profiler. Emily pauses at the door as if she knows Straus is watching. She slowly turns and looks over her shoulder. The look in Emily’s eyes is murderous. Straus brings her hand back from the phone. She lifts up the torn file…and throws it in her trash can. Emily raises an eyebrow, turns and continues back to her desk.

As she enters the bullpen, Hotch gestures to her from just outside his office. Emily takes a deep breath and heads up to see him.

“Is everything okay?” he asks quietly.

Emily forces a smile. “Yeah. Of course. She just had a question about Alaska.”

Hotch raises an eyebrow at her, staring into her eyes. “Then how come Chief Norton from White Collar called me to thank me for allowing your transfer?”

Emily takes a deep breath and gazes away from Hotch. After a moment she looks back. “It’s been handled. You’re stuck with me.”

Hotch slowly nods. “Good. I may have been pissed when Straus first shoved you on this team but you’ve proven yourself a fine profiler, a great agent and a perfect addition to this team. I’ll fight for you if I need to.”

Emily nods and lays a hand on Hotch’s arm. “Thank you. But let’s save that for another day. Okay?”

He nods and she heads back to her desk. She nearly laughs as Morgan and Reid both immediately come over to her.

“Prentiss? What’s up?” Morgan asks.

“Oh, Straus just wanted my recipe for Baked Alaska. She heard it’s delightful.”

“You’re not going to tell us, are you?”

“No, Reid, I’m not. Just know all is fine,” Emily reassures them. “Just fine.”

The two men reluctantly go back to their desks. Emily is not surprised to get a text, she is only surprised how long it took.

“ _Everything okay?”_

She smiles. “ _Everything is okay, Jen. I promise. I’ll tell you about it later. Love you.”_

Emily starts to go over the file she had been working on before her meeting with Straus. She is only working on it 10 minutes when her next distraction crops up.

“Hi, Emily.”

Emily freezes when she hears the voice. She slowly turns her head and looks up into eyes she hasn’t seen in over 5 years.

“Oh. My. God.”

The green-eyed woman smiles down at her. “Yeah, I thought the same when I heard you worked here, too.”

Emily’s eyes widen. “Too?”

“Yeah. I’m with the Anti-Terrorism Task Force. I’ll be working right upstairs.”

“Wow, that’s, um, great.”

“Maybe we can go out for drinks some time. Catch up. Relive old memories. Maybe make some new ones,” she says with a wink.

Before Emily can answer, a voice comes from behind the woman. “Agent Prentiss? We have a case.”

Emily looks beyond her ex-girlfriend and sees her fiancé storming towards the conference room. She looks over at Morgan, who just gives her a wide-eyed, ‘you’ve stepped in it’ look. Emily looks up at Caroline Weston.

“Uh, thanks but, um, I’ll have to get back to you. Congratulations on your new assignment.”

Caroline nods and steps back. She raises an eyebrow when she sees the cast on Emily’s leg. “Whoa! What happened to you? Not another motorcycle accident?”

“Uh, no. Cliff diving,” Emily says as she eases past the woman. “Well, duty calls.”

“Cliff diving? You always were the most interesting woman I ever… _knew_ ,” she says, suggesting “knew” really meant “slept with”. “See you, Emily. Hopefully soon,” she flirts before heading out of the BAU.

Morgan catches up to Emily just before the conference room. “When all else fails, grovel,” he advises in a whisper.

As they walk in Emily looks at JJ. The tips of the media liaison’s ears are bright red, a sign she is not happy. Emily sighs and looks at Morgan. “I will. But you know I didn’t even do anything wrong.”

“Does it matter?” he asks with a grin.

Emily looks at JJ then back to Morgan. “Not if I ever want to sleep with JJ again.”

Morgan laughs and takes his seat.


	3. Chapter 3

As everyone else gets settled, JJ turns on the screen behind her.

“This is a local one, guys.” The team looks relieved. “Prince William County PD are investigating a series of home invasions. At first they thought it was kids just trying to steal whatever they could carry. But over the last week, the first two houses were hit again, this time, while the family was home. The parents were told to choose which child they wanted to keep.”

“Oh my God,” Emily mutters.

“When the parents didn’t choose quick enough, they started torturing the children. As soon as a choice was made, the unsubs took that child and left.”

“So no matter what they decide they lose,” Rossi notes. “The remaining kids know they weren’t the parents’ choice and the parents have to deal with the psychological effects of having made the choice.”

“These are some sick bastards,” Morgan states.

“How many in the gang?” Hotch asks.

“The first house, there were 5. The second house, there were 4.”

Reid frowns. “It’s unusual for a pack to vary the number of members. The fifth member has either already been ousted or maybe even arrested.”

“Or maybe he just couldn’t make it that night for some reason,” Morgan offers.

“Well, wait, look at the families,” Emily notes. “There were 4 kids in the first house and only 2 in the second. Maybe they only take the number of people they think they will need to meet their objective.”

“All good theories,” Hotch notes. “But we need some more facts. Prentiss, since we’re local, I’d like you to come with us and take the time to go over the evidence that was collected at the crime scenes.”

“Yes, sir,” Emily nods.

“Morgan, you and Reid head to the first house. Rossi and I will head to the second. Garcia, get everything you can on these families and get a search to see if any kids matching the missing ones have shown up anywhere: hospitals, clinics, morgues anywhere along the east coast. JJ, head to the police station with Emily and control what information is going out. The media has already picked up on this so we need to rein in the rumors quickly.”

Everyone nods and heads out to get ready. Within 10 minutes Emily and JJ are in JJ’s sedan heading to Woodbridge, VA. Emily reaches over to take JJ’s hand. JJ pulls it away, using both hands to drive. Emily cusses in Spanish before speaking again.

“Her name is Caroline Weston. We dated over 5 years ago. We split because I was offered a promotion and I took it. I had no idea she was going to show up here today or at Quantico at all until she was beside my desk.”

JJ takes a deep breath. “I didn’t hear you telling her you were off the market.”

Emily rolls her eyes and shakes her head. “Jennifer, that’s not fair. She surprised me and after my meeting with Straus I wasn’t exactly on my toes.”

“Yeah, about that meeting…”

“Fuck. Jen, can we please talk about this later? Please?” JJ remains silent. Emily throws her hands in the air. “I’m in the fucking dog house and I’ve done nothing wrong. This isn’t fair, Jennifer. Not fair at all.”

JJ’s jaw gradually unclenches. She reaches out and takes Emily’s hand. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I don’t normally get all jealous like that but when I saw her standing there staring at you something just…snapped in me. She looked like a lioness closing in on an injured gazelle. And it made me mad. Add in your trip to Straus’ office and I guess I was a little on edge.” She makes eye contact with Emily long enough to show she is truly sorry. “I’m sorry, Em. You’ve never given me reason to doubt your integrity or your love for me.”

Emily squeezes JJ’s hand. “You’re forgiven…this time, Agent Jareau.”

JJ smiles. “Thank you, Agent Prentiss.”

As they pull into the police lot JJ sees a crowd of reporters already waiting. “Great. Make sure you have your ‘no comment’ face on.”

“Always, Jen. I hate talking to the press.”

The two agents exit the car and run the gauntlet of reporters at the doors. Once inside, JJ is met by the lead detective. He directs her to the press office and takes Emily back to the room with all the evidence boxes. She stares at the amount accumulated.

“You guys are thorough. I appreciate that. Where is the evidence from the latest two?”

He shows her the boxes. Emily moves to them and gets to work looking over everything that has so far been gathered. By the time the rest of the team arrives that afternoon Emily has seen that “thorough” and “helpful” did not go hand in hand.

Morgan sets a Starbucks down in front of her. “Oh, Morgan, I could kiss you.”

“Better not,” JJ notes from nearby, with a wink at Morgan.

Morgan raises his hands, showing he was innocent in the exchange. Emily just laughs and moans happily as she takes a sip of the double shot Mocha latte. As everyone sits down, Hotch looks at Emily first.

“What have you got?”

“A lot of nothing, unfortunately. We have pictures showing where entry was made, blood spatter from where the parents were tortured, but no prints, blood or DNA from the unsubs. No footprints were found outside. Other than the families statements there is nothing to show anyone was ever there.”

“So they are very organized. To have that many people and not leave anything behind takes discipline,” Rossi points out.

“We’re not looking at a terrorist cell again, are we? Like in New York?” Reid asks.

Hotch slowly shakes his head. “Though it’s too early to rule anything out, I don’t think so. None of this would create a mass panic, nor would it be seen as helping with planning for a mass attack.”

“I don’t know,” JJ says. “As a mother, I’d be scared it could happen to me next. There is an air of fear out there. The reporters are all feeding it but even if we get control of that it will still be there. It won’t just go away because I make a statement on TV.”

“Okay, get Garcia on the phone. We need to know what she’s found out about the families,” Hotch orders.

By the time 5 p.m. rolls around, the team has given a preliminary profile, established protection details on the other families that had been robbed, and gotten the reporters to stop spreading fear and start spreading facts.

“Let’s get a good night’s sleep and meet back here at 8 tomorrow. Hopefully all of Garcia’s programs will have finished by then and it will give us a direction to look in,” Hotch stands, effectively dismissing the unit.

On their way home, JJ and Emily are quiet, each mulling over facts of the case. Henry is staying with Garcia that night so she can take him to day care at Quantico in the morning. As they pull into the driveway, JJ turns and looks at Emily.

“I know we said we would abstain from sex while away on a case but…”

Emily grins. “You know, we already broke that rule in Alaska.”

“Think we could break it here, too?”

Emily smiles and leans over to kiss JJ. “I think I could be persuaded to bend it one more time.”

The two head inside and don’t stop until they get to their bedroom. The rule is broken several times that night and once more before they leave in the morning.


	4. Chapter 4

JJ and Emily are nearly to the police station when JJ’s phone rings. Hitting the speaker function on her car, she answers.

“Agent Jareau.”

“It’s Hotch. I need you two to head to Prince William Hospital. The two children that were taken were dropped off at different fire stations around 4 a.m. They are being treated in the ER and I want Prentiss and Morgan to interview them.”

Since it’s on speaker, Emily answers him. “Will do, Hotch. Are they okay?”

“Reports say scared, hungry and dehydrated but otherwise okay.”

“We’ll be there in about 10 minutes,” Emily lets him know.

“Good. JJ, after dropping Prentiss off get to the station. You’re going to be busy this morning.”

“I can imagine. See you soon.” JJ disconnects and glances at Emily. “That’s weird. No physical trauma? Not killed? What’s going on?”

Emily slowly shakes her head. “I don’t know. Hopefully the kids will give us something to work with.”

JJ pulls up to the ER doors. Emily looks over at her. “Good luck with the reporters, babe. I love you.”

JJ smiles at her. “Love you, too. Good luck with the kids.”

Since they are in public they just squeeze each other’s hands goodbye. Emily gathers her briefcase and cane and heads into the hospital as JJ leaves for the police station. Inside Emily flashes her credentials and asks to speak to whoever is in charge of the children. She is led down a long hallway, past various treatment cubicles to a small office. As she waits, Morgan is escorted in.

“Do you know anything?” she asks him.

He shakes his head. “Just what Hotch told me. Prentiss, this makes no sense. Why take them for no reason? Not even a ransom demand.”

“I don’t know. JJ and I were confused, too. Hopefully the kids can tell us something to help us figure out where to go next with the investigation.”

Morgan nods in agreement. They are left waiting 5 minutes before a doctor finally enters the room.

“Hello, I’m Dr Max Gregory, chief of emergency medicine.” He extends his hands to Morgan and Emily in turn. Both profilers immediately study the man: about 6’ tall, mid-to-late 40’s, dark hair graying at the temples, brown-eyes that looked like they haven’t slept in days. “I understand you want to interview the two children?”

“Yes,” Morgan answers. “They may have information that can lead us to the unsubs before they strike again.”

“Um, ‘unsubs’?” Gregory questions.

“Unknown subjects,” Emily clarifies.

“Ah. Well, I’ve asked the kids questions about where they were and who had them and they didn’t seem to have any answers. I’m not sure they can help you.”

“We’re trained in asking questions in a way to help spur memories. A lot of times kids, and even adults, know more than they realize. Smells and sounds can be as helpful as things they’ve seen in helping us with the investigation,” Emily explains.

The doctor stares at them for a moment. “You have to understand, these kids are scared. I’m having a hard time letting you just go in there and cause them more pain.”

“Dr Gregory, I promise you we are not trying to hurt them,” Morgan says gently. “And doing something to help gives them a sense of power back, something that the kidnappers have stolen from them. Trust me when I say we know when to push and when to stop. We will not do anything to hurt these children any more than they’ve already been hurt.”

Gregory studies the two agents a moment longer. Finally he nods his head. “Okay. But I reserve the right as their physician to stop the interrogation if I think it’s hurting them.”

“This is just an interview, not an interrogation, Dr Gregory,” Emily reminds him.

“To a victim of trauma, is there really any difference?” he says pointedly.

Morgan and Emily exchange a look, both worried the doctor could interfere with their job.

“Doctor, if you could take us to the children now,” Morgan insists.

Gregory shakes his head in resignation and leads the agents down the hall. He gestures to two private rooms. “I’ll be watching, agents.”

Emily fights the urge to roll her eyes and walks into the first room. She sees a 7 year old boy clinging to his mother. The boy’s father paces angrily. He spins as the two agents enter the room.

“Mr. Alexander, I’m SSA Derek Morgan, this is SSA Emily Prentiss of the FBI. We’d like to speak to your son for a few minutes.”

“No! He’s already told the police everything he knows. As soon as his IV is done we’re taking him home.”

Morgan glances at Emily and she nods. “Sir, I know you’re scared and you’re angry. But to ensure this doesn’t happen to anyone again, we really need to know more than the local police would have asked.”

He goes to deny them again but his wife intervenes. “Michael! Let them help. Please.”

He stares at his wife a minute, then waves his hands in resignation. Morgan steps towards him. “Perhaps you, your wife and I can step into the hall for a moment so Agent Prentiss can—”

“NO WAY!” Alexander screams. “I’m not leaving him in here alone!”

“Sir, sometimes it’s easier for kids to open up without their parents around. They can get scared they’ve done something wrong and miss giving us important details,” Emily steps closer to him. “I’m a mother myself and I know what you must be feeling. I can’t say I wouldn’t feel the same. But I know we all want these men caught. Please, let me speak with Benjamin for just a few minutes.”

Alexander stares at Emily, trying to see if she is lying. Emily pulls out her phone and shows him her background: a giggling Henry. The man’s shoulders ease a little. Finally he nods and walks out into the hallway. His wife gives her son a hug and kiss before following him out. Morgan nods to Emily as she moves towards the bed. Morgan heads out to speak with the parents.

“Hi, Benjamin, my name is Emily.”

“I’m Benji,” he says sadly.

“Benji? I like that. Benji, do you understand why I’m here?”

“Yeah. You want to know about the bad men.”

“Yes. But I also want to know some other things. Like, do you remember where you were kept while you were with them?”

“It was dark.”

“Okay. What did it smell like?”

He scrunches up his face, trying to remember. “Kinda stinky. Like when the dog bowl gets yucky.”

“Eww, that doesn’t smell good at all,” Emily says with a smile. He shakes his head and gives her a small smile in return. “Do you remember hearing anything?”

“Not the first night. But the second night I heard them bring someone into the room. He was crying. They told him to shut up and be a big boy.”

“I see. Were you blindfolded?”

“No. I was in a different box so I couldn’t see him.”

“Can you tell me about the box you were in? What if felt like?”

“It was metal. I could feel rust on it. The first night I cried a little,” he admits shyly. “The one man kept banging on the box telling me to shut up. It hurt my ears so I stopped.”

“That wasn’t very nice of him. I’m glad you were able to stay quiet. You were very brave.”

“I was really scared, Emily,” he says softly.

She reaches out and takes his hand. “I’m sure you were. There is nothing wrong with being scared.” He looks up at her and she sees the shame in his eyes. “I’ve been scared plenty of times. But you are safe now. And we’re going to do everything we can to keep you safe.”

“Promise?”

“I promise,” she says with a smile. “I just have one more question, okay?” He nods. “Did you hear any names? Did the men call themselves anything?”

He thinks for a minute again then tilts his head to the side. “I think one man called another Simon. And that man got mad that his name was said. He hit the other man. I heard the smack.”

Emily smiles. “That’s great, Benji. I’m very proud of you. I’m going to send you parents back in now, okay?”

He nods. As Emily reaches the door, Benji calls out to her. “Emily?”

“Yes, Benji.”

“When you find the bad men, are you going to shoot them?”

Emily sees the hope in his eyes. She takes a deep breath, trying to find the right answer. She finally just states, “We’re going to make sure they can’t hurt you again. I promise that.”

“Okay.”

Emily barely makes it into the hall before the Alexander’s race back in to their son. Morgan walks over.

“Get anything good?”

“A few things. Morgan, they were kept in a metal box.”

Morgan rolls his eyes. “Oh, God.”

“Yeah. Let’s see if the Lieberweitz boy has any more information.”

The two go through a similar conversation with the Lieberweitz parents before Emily can speak to Stanley. He is only 5 so she is not sure he will be as helpful as Benji. Midway through the interview she is surprised by something the boy says.

“Mark was mean to do this to me.”

Emily looks at him, her heartbeat increasing. “Mark? Who’s Mark?”

“He mows our lawn. I seen his shoes and they were the ones with the red slashes on them.”

“Are you sure they were Mark’s? Or were they just like Mark’s?”

“They were Mark’s. The dog teeth marks was on them.”

“What dog?”

“He has a puppy and it chews stuff. He was real mad about his shoes ‘cause they was new and cost a lot.”

“I’ll bet he was. If I showed you a picture of the shoes, would you be able to tell me if they are like Mark’s?”

Stanly nods. “Yeah. ‘Cause they was real cool.”

Emily smiles at him. “That’s great, Stanley. You’ve been a really big help. I’m going to send your parents in now, okay?”

Stanley nods and Emily leaves. In the hallway, she looks at the Lieberweitz’.

“One question for you before you go back to Stanley. It’s routine for us to clear any workers with access to your home and property. Do you all use a lawn service?”

Mr Lieberweitz nods. “Yes. Byan’s Lawn Service. We’ve used them for 4 years now.”

“Great. Your son did a great job. We’ll be in touch.” The parents hurry back to their son. Before Morgan can ask Emily anything she has her phone out.

“Garcia, I need a search of expensive shoes, sounds like sneakers, black with red slashes on them.”

“Kinda vague but I’ll see what I can find, Princess,” Garcia replies.

“Thanks, Pen. Also, I need you to run the employees of Byan’s Lawn Service. One of the boys may have recognized one of the kidnappers as the guy that does his lawn.”

Morgan raises an eyebrow at Emily. “Shoes and a lawn service?”

“Yeah,” she nods. “The shoes had teeth marks on them from the guy’s puppy which is why Stanley recognized them.”

“Could it really be this easy?”

“I hope so,” Emily states.

By the time the two agents reach the police station, Garcia has completed both runs for Emily. One employee of the Lawn Service is a Mark Kruse. He has a sealed juvenile record, which the Goddess of Knowledge unsealed of course. It was for petty theft. Arrested along with him were a couple of his buddies. Runs on them had shown they had graduated into adult crimes. One was in prison but the other, Byron Smith, was out on parole and his old buddy Kruse had helped him to get a job at Byan’s Lawn Service.

“Damn I really want to go with you to interview this s.o.b.,” Emily gripes.

Rossi pats her on the shoulder. “If we need to take the rubber hoses to him we’ll call you first.”

Emily smiles at him. “Aw, you really do know the way to a girl’s heart.” She watches enviously as Rossi and Morgan head out to interview Kruse.

JJ pats her shoulder as she walks by. “Don’t worry, Em, if all goes well in two weeks you’ll be out breaking unsubs again.”

Those in the room chuckle at the hopeful look on Emily’s face. They are midway through the initial runs on Kruse and his buddies when Hotch’s phone rings.

“Hotchner,” he answers. They see him stiffen and his face pale. “What hospital?” He hangs up his phone. “Kruse admitted to being part of the kidnapping team. When Morgan and Rossi went to see Smith he panicked and pulled a gun. Rossi’s been shot.”


	5. Chapter 5

Twenty minutes later the BAU team is hurrying into Manassas Hospital. Before they can ask anyone about Rossi, Morgan calls out to them.

“Hotch! Rossi will be okay.”

The team crowds around Morgan. “What the hell happened, Morgan?” Hotch demands.

“Kruse told us everything. He got pulled into the plot by his buddy, who insisted it was just to steal some stuff to sell. He had no idea about the kidnapping part until later.”

“Let me guess, he was the one missing from the second house?” Emily asks.

“Yeah. Anyway, he was on his way to jail for processing so we went to track down Smith. The minute he saw us he just…he pulled his gun and fired. Rossi went down and Smith took off. I couldn’t go after him, Hotch, but there is an APB out for him.”

“I know, Morgan. What’s Rossi’s condition?”

“Mad as hell,” Morgan tells them. “Bullet got him in the right arm but no major damage. He should be ready to go soon.”

Hotch looks visibly relieved. He asks the others to wait and heads back to check on his mentor. As he walks into the room, Rossi glares at him.

“How many years have I been with the Bureau?”

Hotch pretends to think. “Well, let’s see, it was founded in July of 1908 so…”

“Watch it, Aaron,” Rossi says threateningly.

Hotch smiles and steps to the bed. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“I will be. Mad as hell, though.”

“That’s what Morgan said. We’re going to find this guy, Dave,” Hotch vows.

“I know you will. Guess I get to sit around with Prentiss for a couple weeks while you all do the leg work.”

Hotch nods. “Yep. I’m going to have to deal with 2 agents getting antsy. How did I ever get so lucky?” he jokes.

Hotch and Rossi laugh. A few minutes later a nurse comes in with Rossi’s discharge papers. As they head out to meet the team, Emily smiles at Rossi.

“I’m so happy to have someone to hang with on the injured reserve list.”

“Ha ha, Prentiss,” Rossi says with a sparkle in his eyes.

“You’re okay, though, right?” Reid asks nervously.

“I’m fine, kid,” Rossi insists. “Just mad that he got the drop on me.”

“Well, at your age, it’s not uncommon that your reflexes are slower and—”

JJ puts a hand over Reid’s mouth, stopping the stat flow. “Reid, he will hurt you if you continue to imply he is old.” She removes her hand.

“Oh. Right. Sorry,” Reid says with a grin.

Rossi rolls his eyes and once again impresses Emily with his skill at cussing in Italian. The team heads back to the police station to see if Garcia has been able to come up with a list of potential accomplices for Smith and to start the interrogation of Kruse.

When they arrive they find a man in fine Italian wool suit arguing with the lead detective. The man looks to the FBI agents with relief. Hotch steps forward.

“Everything okay, Detective?”

The detective shakes his head but before he can answer the other man turns to face Hotch. “My name is Harold Feist and I demand to know why my client was interrogated without me.”

“I’m FBI Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner. Who exactly is your client?”

“Mark Kruse. He was arrested earlier today and questioned without the benefit of his council of record.”

Hotch looks over his shoulder at Morgan and Rossi. The older agent steps forward. “Your client was questioned at his job site, never asked for a lawyer, and voluntarily came in for additional questioning.”

“But once he was here he did ask for me and I was not called. Had a friend of his not seen what happened and let me know I shudder to think what other rights might have been trampled on if Mr. Kruse didn’t have such a loyal friend.”

“I don’t know what he’s told you,” Rossi continues, “but we’re just getting back from the hospital because another one of your client’s ‘loyal friends’ shot me! We haven’t had a chance to start another interrogation.”

“Um, agents,” the detective starts, visibly uncomfortable, “my partner and I sort of started the interrogation without you.”

Hotch glares at the man as Rossi and Morgan bite their tongues. “Why would you do that, detective? You were told to wait!”

The shamed detective gets in Hotch’s face. “Look, it’s not like we’ve never questioned a perp before! And the officers that brought him in never said shit about him asking for an attorney!”

“Did you look at the intake report?” Morgan asked. “I wrote on it that he asked for his lawyer after giving up his friend. In fact, that’s why we didn’t just continue back here with him. We could have sent someone else after Smith but figured we’d leave enough time for,” he gestures at the lawyer, “this guy to get here!”

The detective looks stunned. “I, uh, I didn’t…um…”

Hotch throws his hands in the air. “Shit. Mr. Feist, would it be possible for my agents to speak with you and your client?”

Feist shakes his head. “No. With the shaky evidence you have. I think I’ll be taking my client home with me.”

“I wouldn’t recommend that,” Hotch says. “He gave up one member of the group he is working with. Do you really think the others will wait to see if he’s going to give them up, too?”

Feist considers what Hotch is saying for a moment. “So what guarantees does Kruse get if he talks to you?”

“He stays in jail and they can’t touch him. We’ll also make sure the D.A. knows he was cooperative and that he was apparently tricked into participating in the kidnappings. That should hold up since he was not there for the second one.”

Feist stares at Hotch a moment then nods. “Okay. But I will pull the plug if it looks like you are railroading my client for everything.”

“My only concern is stopping these home invasions before another one occurs. That will only happen if we deal straight with your client,” Hotch assures the lawyer.

“Okay. Let’s go speak with Mr. Kruse,” Feist concurs and leads the way back to interrogation.


	6. Chapter 6

Hotch and Morgan lead the interrogation of Mark Kruse. Surprisingly, Feist very rarely tells his client not to answer. Of course, being the low man in the gang, Kruse knows very little.

When asked about the man named “Simon” Kruse tells them he only knew people by the nicknames they used, not their real names. As he had given those, Rossi had called them into Garcia to have her put them through her criminal databases. After 3 hours it is obvious they are not going to get much more information from Kruse. Hotch has one final question.

“Would you be willing to look at mug shots to see if you can identify any of these men?”

Kruse looks to his lawyer, who nods. Kruse shrugs at Hotch. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Good. Your cooperation is appreciated, Mr. Kruse.”

“Like I got a choice,” he mutters.

Hotch’s eyes narrow. “What do you mean by that? Didn’t your lawyer explain the deal in place for the information you supply to us?”

Though the police watching don’t see it, all the profilers see when Feist’s pulse starts to pound faster and his pupils dilate slightly.

“What the hell is he hiding?” Emily ponders as she stares through the two-way mirror.

“Mr. Feist, you _did_   make your client aware of our conditions for this interview, right?” Hotch presses the lawyer. “You did tell him that his  _full_ cooperation would be considered should charges be pressed?”

Kruse sits up in his seat. “He ain’t tell me that! Just said I gotta tell you some shit so you’d let me go!”

“You’re not going anywhere, Kruse,” Morgan tells him. “You’re confession to me and Agent Rossi ensures that.”

Kruse spins around and glares at Feist. “What the fuck? You said—”

Feist is obviously uncomfortable at this point. “I’m afraid you…misunderstood. That’s all.”

“Bullshit!”

“Mr. Kruse, would you like to request new council?” Hotch asks. “We can suspend this talk until a new lawyer arrives.”

“Yeah! I want a new lawyer! Not this bastard! I didn’t even know this guy until he walked in!”

Hotch glances to his left. “Morgan, get Mr. Feist out of here and into another interrogation room. I want to know what the hell is going on here.”

Feist leaps to his feet. “You can’t do that! You have no authority to—”

“The hell I don’t! Morgan!”

Morgan stands and grabs Feist by the arm. The lawyer is still protesting as he is dragged from the room. Hotch looks at Mr. Kruse.

“Do you know who called him?”

“Nah, man, he just showed up. I figured he got called when I asked for an attorney.”

“Word of advice: if a lawyer in a $1000 suit shows up, he hasn’t been appointed by the courts. Until a new lawyer arrives, I’m going to suspend this interview to make sure you are properly represented.” Hotch stands to leave. “You may want to think about who would want to send in such an expensive lawyer to get you out of here…and why.”

Hotch leaves the interview room. He hears the end of Emily’s conversation with Garcia.

“Right, Garcia, F-E-I-S-T. Find out who has called him or paid him in the last 24 hours. And then track back to the start of these home invasions.” She pauses to listen to Garcia. “Right. Okay, well, I’ll talk to Hotch. I can be in the office tomorrow to help you weed through some of those reports and Rossi can hang here to help the team at the police station.” She pauses then chuckles. “Yeah, well, Rossi and I like to be lazy every once in a while. What can we say? See you later.”

Emily looks at Hotch. “Garcia has a lot of information in regards to associates of our 2 known suspects but they both have a lot of peripheral associates that threw up red flags in connection with the details of our case. I figured I can probably weed a lot of them out before sending them this way.”

“And I can go over everything we have here again in light of some of this new information. Fresh eyes should help,” Rossi adds.

Hotch nods. “Good. And hopefully by tomorrow the APB on Smith will have led to his arrest. Where’s JJ?”

“When word got out that Rossi was shot about 100 reporters showed up. She’s giving them a lot of nothing to keep them happy,” Reid states.

Hotch nods. “Good. Okay, I’m going in with Morgan to interview Feist, though I have a feeling he won’t give up anything any time soon.”

Just then Morgan walks up. “Don’t bother. He lawyered up.”

Hotch rolls his eyes. “Figures. Fine, he can stew in a cell overnight. Be back here by 7 a.m. unless you get a call they’ve caught Smith.”

The team nods and heads out for the night. Emily has to wait about another 45 minutes for JJ to finish with the press. When the liaison comes in she drops down into a chair beside Emily and buries her face in her hands.

“I swear we need to hire a liaison just to deal with Rossi-related questions. Can you believe with all the crap going on some asshole took the time to ask me about a chapter in his second book? Do I   _look_  like I’ve memorized his fucking books? Shit! Damn asshole!”

Emily knows the more JJ cusses the more tired she is. She lays a hand on her leg. “How about we go get Henry, and when we get home you get yourself in a nice, hot bath, I’ll bring you a glass of wine, and I’ll deal with the little man until it’s time for you to read him a story. Sound good?”

JJ rolls her head, her face still in her hands. “That sounds perfect. But can you bring me an aspirin with the wine?”

Emily chuckles. “I believe I can do that, too.” She stands and offers her hand to JJ. “Let’s go, Agent Jareau.

JJ stands. “Lead the way, Agent Gimpy.”

Emily stops and slowly turns to glare at JJ. JJ just smiles and winks.

“Brat,” Emily mutters and continues out to their car.


	7. Chapter 7

JJ has just dropped another cup of bath salts into the tubs when Emily walks in. JJ raises an eyebrow as she sees what her fiancé is carrying.

“That looks like more than wine and aspirin.”

“What can I say? I’ve always been an overachiever.”

Emily sits the tray she carries on the sink and moves over to JJ. Pulling the blond to her feet she unties the flannel robe JJ is wearing.

“Have I ever told you how sexy you look in flannel?” Emily is serious. She had always dated women who, like here, tended towards the satin and silk. But seeing JJ in a flannel robe or flannel pj’s, her hair tousled, no make-up was truly the most breath-taking thing Emily had ever seen.

“Have I ever told you you’re biased?” JJ says with a smile, not ever completely believing she is as beautiful as Emily thinks.

The two share a deep kiss. As it ends, Emily takes JJ’s right hand to steady her as she steps into the large tub. As the liaison settled into the water Emily transfers the glass of wine and the cheese and crackers plate to the teak, cross-tub caddy. She slides the caddy toward JJ.

“Buen apetito, mi amor.”

“Mmm…yeah…what you said,” JJ says lazily.

Emily just chuckles and heads out to go feed Henry and get him ready for bed. An hour later, JJ stands in the door of the nursery listening to Emily sing Henry a song in what she thinks is either Italian or Spanish. The little boy is sucking on his fist as he listens intently to every word the brunette sings. JJ feels tears well up in her eyes as she sees how much the two people she loves above all others love each other. As the song finishes, Emily looks up and sees JJ. She frowns.

“Jennifer? You okay?”

“I’m fine. I just…” she walks over and kneels in front of Emily. “I love you both so much it almost hurts sometimes.”

Emily leans down and meets JJ’s lips in a gentle kiss. JJ then kisses Henry and lifts him from Emily’s arms. “So, big man, you ready for a story? Or did Mama get you so sleepy you are done for the night?”

His eyes droop and JJ knows he won’t make it through “Bedtime for Baby Star.” She takes him over and tucks him. She leans over and kisses him on both cheeks and his forehead. By the time she stands back up his eyes are already closed. Emily wraps her arms around JJ’s waist.

“Ready for dinner, Jen?”

“Yeah,” she says sadly. Emily turns her around and looks into her eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just…can’t imagine what those parents are feeling? How could you choose one child over another? God, Em, I know we see sick, twisted stuff everyday but this is really getting to me.”

Emily pulls JJ close. “I know, baby. I know. Let’s just find these guys and go back to our normal, everyday, run of the mill psycho’s.”

Emily’s comment has its desired effect of making JJ chuckle. The two head to the kitchen for a quick dinner before bed.

* * *

 

The next morning, JJ drives out of her way to drop Emily and Henry off at Quantico, despite Emily’s protests that she could drive left-footed. After JJ heads out to meet the rest of the team, Emily heads up to her desk. She pauses when she sees the small gift box on her desk. She smiles.

“JJ, what have you done,” she wonders.

She unwraps the gift and lifts out a paperweight made with a real rose inside. She is confused by the gift and slowly spins it until she finds a small brass plaque on the bottom. She sucks in a quick breath a he reads it: Last Rose from Emily.

She now knows this isn’t from JJ. She sets the glass orb down as her mind flashes back to nearly 6 years ago.

* * *

 

_“A single rose? That’s so romantic, Emily,” Caroline Weston brings it up to her nose and smells the sweet scent._

_“Well, I figured if I gave you a whole bouquet they could be used as a weapon,” Emily responds with a nervous smile._

_Caroline studies the face of her girlfriend. In the 2 years they had been together she had never once seen Emily Prentiss nervous. “What’s going on, Emily?”_

_Emily stands and begins to pace. “I’ve been offered a position with a joint task force. It’s a huge step for my career and, well, it’s just a great opportunity to really do some good.”_

_“A task force? What task force?”_

_“I…I can’t exactly say. I mean, I really can’t say. It’s classified and I don’t even know the full details yet.”_

_“Yet? So you haven’t just been offered the position, have you? You’ve accepted it.”_

_Emily stops pacing and stares into Caroline’s eyes. “Yes.”_

_“I see. And what about me? And what about us? Are we just going to see each other when our vacations coincide? Or we end up in the same city on a case?”_

_Emily sits back down beside Caroline and takes her hand. “I’m going deep undercover. I have to cut all ties with my past. I was a good candidate because I’m not close to my family and I’m not married.”_

_“Wait, so you’re breaking up with me? Just like that? No discussion, no nothing?”_

_“I have to take this chance, Caroline.”_

_Caroline pulls her hand away and gets up. She paces angrily. “Bullshit! There has to be a way! I won’t give up on us so easily!”_

_“There is no way. This is a long-term assignment. I don’t know when…or if…I will ever be back in the States.”_

_Caroline stops and stares at Emily. “So it’s overseas?”_

_Emily realizes she has let too much slip. She squeezes her lips together until they nearly disappear. She slowly stands. “I’m sorry, Caroline. I have to go.”_

_Caroline lets sadness turn to anger. She throws the rose at Emily. “Fine! Get the hell out! And don’t come crying to me when your assignment ends. I won’t wait for you.”_

_“I wouldn’t ask you to,” Emily says sincerely. “Goodbye, Caroline.”_

_Emily steps closer to give her a hug and kiss. Caroline holds her hands up to stop the approach. “No. Maybe tomorrow but not tonight. I’m too angry.”_

_Emily nods sadly. “I understand.”_

_Emily turns and walks out the door. The next morning, after a sleepless Friday night, Caroline heads over to Emily’s apartment. She has decided she has been selfish and needs to set things right with Emily. She uses the key Emily had given her to let herself in. Her jaw drops as she sees the apartment is stripped bare. She walks through the 4 rooms that make up the whole place and there is not even a speck of dust to show that anyone had ever lived there._

_The existence of Emily Prentiss has been erased. Caroline slides down a wall and cries, knowing she may never get a chance to apologize for the way she acted. There are no guarantees in their jobs and an assignment such as Emily’s often ends with a photo on the wall as the only reminder the agent ever existed._

_“I’m sorry, Emily,” she says to the empty apartment. “So fucking sorry. I love you.”_

_Emily had watched a CCTV feed of her apartment. Watched as Caroline had broken down but had been unable to go and offer comfort one last time. She looked at her handler who just checks Caroline’s name off a list._

_“You think she’s the only one who will stop by?”_

_“Most likely,” Emily says stiffly. “No one else should even care I was ever there.”_

_Sean McAllister makes a few more notes in Emily’s file. He then hands her another folder. The name “Lauren Reynolds” is typed across the front. “Learn this.”_

_“Who is she?”_

_He looks up and meets her eyes. “She’s you.”_

* * *

 

Back at her desk at the BAU, Emily looks down at the paperweight. She puts it back in the gift box and puts it in her desk drawer. She would deal with Caroline later. She makes her way to Garcia’s office.

“Okay, Goddess, what do you need me to do?”

“Depends, are you actually going to listen to me or just drive me bonkers like the last 2 times?” Garcia asks testily.

Emily chuckles. “You always do make me feel better, Pen.”

“Better? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Just…an ex has appeared and I just have to deal with her. No big deal. So, where do you want me to start with the reports you’ve got?”

“Don’t think I’m going to forget about this ex of yours but…” she hands Emily a zip drive. “These are the friends and friends of friends for our 2 known suspects. Hotch wants possible accomplices narrowed down.”

“Okay. Do you have the full background on Smith and Kruse?”

“Also on there titled ‘Big Jerk 1’ and ‘Big Jerk 2’,” Garcia tells her.

Emily laughs. “Nice titles.”

“Well, I had better, more suitable names for them both but long file names are annoying,” Garcia admits.

“I can only imagine. If the team calls tell them I’ll be at my desk working on a suspect tree.”

“Got it. Happy hunting!”

Emily heads back to her desk and turns on her computer. She is not surprised to see an email from CWeston. She sighs when she sees it’s titled “Dinner Friday.” Without reading it, she deletes it, knowing what she needs to say can’t be said in an email.

She loads Garcia’s information and starts to read through it. By 10:30 she has gone through about half the files and almost 2 pots of coffee. She rubs a hand over her face.

“Who knew it would be such a tangled fucking web of shitheads,” she mutters.

“So, you still talk to yourself. Very cute.”

Emily slowly turns and looks up into the green eyes of Caroline Weston.


	8. Chapter 8

“Caroline. Hi,” Emily says uncomfortably.

“I sent you an email yesterday. Did you get it?”

“Yes, I did. I didn’t get a chance to read it because we’re really swamped with information on this case we’re working,” Emily says, knowing it’s a half-truth.

“Well, let me save you some time. How about dinner at Ruth’s Chris on Friday? My treat. And after, well, maybe you can show me a nice wine bar and we can see where things lead from there.”

“Caroline, I need you to know that there can never be anything romantic between us again. I’m engaged. I even have a stepson. So, I don’t think dinner and a wine bar are a good idea,” Emily explains.

Caroline stiffens. “I see. I’d heard a rumor that the great Emily Prentiss was off the market. Didn’t think it could be true. How long have you been together?”

“About two years now,” Emily answers, stretching the truth to make it seem more serious to Caroline.

“Ah, two years. So you should be ready to cut and run any day now. Call me when you do.”

Before Emily can respond, Caroline turns and walks out of the BAU. Emily takes a steadying breath, worried she may use her cane on the redhead. Unknown to Emily, Garcia had heard the entire exchange. She storms over to Emily’s desk.

“Who is that witch and what do I do to vanquish her?”

Emily can’t help but smile. “That was the ex I mentioned earlier.”

“You mean…she works  _here_? At  _Quantico_? In the  _FBI_?” Her voice getting higher with each question.

“Yes to all three of those questions,” Emily replies.

“Why did you say you’d been with JJ for 2 years?”

Emily sighs. “I thought it would be a better deterrent than saying it’s technically been less than a year. I mean, I’ve loved JJ pretty much from the moment I saw her so in my heart it’s been 2 years. So…oh, fuck. I dug myself deep with that lie, didn’t I? All she has to do is ask around and I’m screwed.” Emily drops her head to her desk. “What am I going to do, Pen?”

Garcia leans down and whispers in Emily’s ear. “A couple of key strokes and she could be at the office in, say, Fargo, North Dakota.”

Emily’s head snaps up. “Fargo? Why Fargo?”

Garcia shrugs. “Just popped into my head.”

“So…you just happened to choose Fargo? You didn’t hear me mention it to…someone else?” Emily stares at the tech analyst. Everyone knows Garcia routinely plays with the security cameras.

Garcia blushes. “Ummm…gotta get back to work. See ya!”

Emily watches as Garcia runs off as fast as her neon green platforms can carry her. “You little sneak,” Emily says proudly. The brunette then stretches her neck and gets back to her web of creeps.

* * *

 

“No, it is not true that we have all suspects in custody. As I already mentioned, we are still looking for Byron Smith in connection with these crimes. Additionally, we know there are at last 3 more suspects we need to find. We are asking anyone with information on Byron Smith or these home invasions to please call the hotline. As soon as we have more information, we will let you know. That’s all for now. Thank you.”

As more reporters throw questions at her, JJ heads back inside after the noon press briefing. She walks into the conference room and closes the door, needing a moment without anyone but the team staring at her.

“You okay?” Reid asks, concerned.

“Yeah. But it never ceases to amaze me that they continue to ask dumb questions or questions I’ve already fucking answered. One day I’m going to lose my shit and with it, my job. Just warning you now,” she says with a look to Hotch, who manages to grin.

As she sits down Hotch’s phone rings. “Hotchner.” He listens a moment. “Okay, let me put you on speaker, Prentiss.”

“Okay, guys, I can tell you our 2 suspects know a lot of bad people who also know a lot of bad people. What I can’t tell you is who those bad people are that are perpetuating these invasions and kidnappings.”

“Is there anything that can help you narrow it down?”

“I did start to notice a pattern and Garcia is right now running the names through a particular search. If this pans out we may have the motive behind the choice these parents are forced to make.”

Just then they hear the technical analyst holler, “YAHTZEE!”

They hear Garcia roll closer to Emily to pass on the information she has found. “Our Goddess of the Gimpy Leg noticed that a lot of these guys, Smith and Kruse included, had at some point been in the foster care system. Deeper checks have shown that those two had 1 and 2 siblings, respectively, that were not in the system. We took the hundreds in our Web of Creeps and ran them through looking for foster kids and that was still a sad, sad number of hits. But when we narrowed it down to those who had siblings who did not go into the system we came up with just 14 names, not including Smith and Kruse.”

Garcia stops to take a deep breath before continuing. “Now, we have also been working to narrow that down based on their last known addresses. Since 3 of those guys are in jail we are pretty sure they aren’t part of the gang. But the other 11 are on their ways to your PDA’s. Happy Hunting, my cute little hound dogs. Garcia out!”

The team looks to their phones and the list Garcia has sent. “Dave, have any of these names popped up in any of the files you’ve seen?” Hotch asks.

“Not that I recall. But there were very few names listed as persons of interest.”

“We still have too many to just go out and start questioning them. If we tip our hand by accident they could go under and we’ll never find them,” Hotch worries.

He stands and moves to one of the whiteboards in the room. He erases the information on it and writes the names of the 11 suspects. “Okay, we’re looking for at least 3 men who are part of this team. Let’s start narrowing things down. First name, what stands out?”

The team cuts through the information they have been sent. They list things on the board that tie in to their profile of the gang members. By 1 p.m. they have narrowed the list down to 5 strong suspects.

“Okay, Morgan, Reid go visit Brunnel and Jacobs. JJ and I will check out the other three. Rossi, get with Garcia and have even more information pulled on these 5. If anything pops, call us and give us a heads up. Try to be back here by 6. Text if you need longer. Let’s go.”

The four agents move out as Rossi jumps on the phone to coordinate with Garcia.

At 5:37 p.m. Hotch awakens in the ER of Prince William Hospital. Jennifer Jareau is missing.


	9. Chapter 9

Emily is struggling to piece together the lives of their main suspects, both before and after they entered foster care. She is reaching out to social workers in hopes of finding out why these men were the only ones in their house put into care. What made them the ones the parents sent away? She has just left yet another message when she hears the rapid clicking of Garcia’s heels on the floor. She turns and sees the vibrantly dressed woman is pale in the face.

“What’s wrong?” Emily asks, a knot forming in her stomach.

“Hotch and JJ got jumped. Hotch is on his way to the hospital. Oh, sweetheart, I’m sorry but JJ is missing.”

A rush of blood fills Emily’s head as her stomach nosedives. Her vision narrows for a moment as she thinks about the things these men had done prison time for. Garcia’s voice breaks through the roar in Emily’s head.

“…need to get his go bag and then meet them at the hospital and then Morgan said you can question suspects but can’t go in the field and—”

“Garcia!” Emily says, shoving her fear into a box to be dealt with later. “Get Hotch’s bag. Let’s go.”

Garcia runs up to Hotch’s office. Emily quickly saves the information she had been compiling and pulls out the zip drive. She grabs her go bag and cane. The two women meet up at the elevators, Emily still trying to quash the fear rising like bile in her throat.

They are nearly to the hospital when Emily suddenly points. “Garcia! Pull in there. I need to get something.”

“Lowe’s?”

“Now, Garcia!”

“O—Okay. Sure. Whatever.”

Garcia pulls up to the door and Emily leaps out of the car. She comes back out in less than 10 minutes with a bag.

“Now, across the street…CVS. Go.”

Garcia is completely confused but obeys the angry profiler. As they pull into the lot, she looks at what Emily is pulling from the bag. Emily plugs an A/C converter into the car outlet. She then pulls out the box in the bag.

“A dremel?” Garcia questions.

“Go inside and buy me one of those ankle braces that lace up. Hurry.”

“Emily, I’m not sure you should—”

“NOW, Garcia!” Emily shouts.

Garcia jumps then gets out of the car and goes inside. By the time she comes out with the brace Emily has finished cutting the cast from her leg. She tosses the offending item into a nearby trash bin and takes the brace from Garcia. By the time they arrive at the hospital Emily has put on the brace and pulled on a pair of combat boots from her go bag. Garcia looks at her.

“Um, Em, are you sure you’re ankle is okay?”

“We’re short too many agents and I’ll be damned if I just sit around waiting for them to find Jennifer,” she looks and sees the concern and fear in her friends eyes. She calms her voice. “I’ll be fine, Garcia. I promise. Let’s go.”

The two hop out and head inside. Garcia notices Emily’s limp but says nothing, knowing she would fight just as hard if it was Kevin who was missing.

* * *

 

Hotch stares up at an obviously worried and frustrated Morgan.

“What the hell happened?” Hotch asks.

“That’s what we were hoping you could tell us,” Morgan answers. “Your police back-up was late arriving. By the time they got there they found the door open and you on the floor in the living room,” Morgan pauses. “Hotch, JJ’s gone.”

Hotch stares up at Morgan a moment. He starts to rip off the monitoring pads and sit up. “We have to find her. We need…” a wave of dizziness hits him and Morgan steadies him.

“You have a concussion, Hotch. They found a baseball bat beside you and think that’s what was used to hit you. You’re not getting out of here for a while.”

“I have to get up, Morgan. Prentiss and Rossi are already down. We need everyone to help get JJ back. We need…” he manages to sit up and fights down the urge to throw-up. “We need an APB out on Simon Gulliver.”

“Already done. We’ve gone ahead and asked the cops to bring in the other 4 suspects, too. Garcia also dug up some information on Feist. Rossi’s taking a run at him now that he’s got council.”

“Okay,” Hotch staggers to his feet. “Emily?”

“Here with your go bag,” she answers from the doorway.

He looks over at her. “Where’s your cast?”

Emily raises an eyebrow. “If you think I’m going to be hampered by a cast while Jennifer is missing your head injury is fucking worse than we thought.”

Hotch stares at her a minute then nods. “Fine. But once we find her you’re back in it.”

“Agreed. Now let’s go find my fiancé,” she says, handing him his bag.”

Five minutes later Hotch has signed out against medical advice and the team is heading to the police station to question all the men they have in custody.

* * *

 

Rossi slams his left hand into the table.

“Look, Feist, we know you’ve been involved with these guys from the start and we now know why! Now I’ve got two friends that were hurt by that bastard Gulliver and if you don’t start telling me what I want to know I will make sure you are prosecuted for my shooting, Hotchner’s injuries and Jareau’s injuries. You know how many years in FEDERAL prison you will get for 3 assaults with intent to kill on Federal Agents? Your great-grandkids will be in high school before you get out! Now tell me exactly who is involved in the home invasions and maybe, MAYBE, we can come up with a deal for you!”

Feist is looking concerned. His lawyer leans over and whispers something in his ear. Feist shakes his head.

“I’m not doing time, Jack! I can’t!” Feist insists. The lawyer whispers something else then turns to face Rossi.

“My client wants a deal in writing. No jail time and just a censure from the Bar, no loss of his license.”

“No way. He’s doing some time and he’s losing his license. Those are a given. It’s how much time we’re working with and what kind of facility.”

The lawyer stares into Rossi’s eyes. He can see the profiler is not budging. What he can’t see is the fear that Rossi masterfully masks. If Feist doesn’t crack they may not have a chance to find JJ.

The lawyer finally leans over and whispers something in Feist’s ear. The fallen lawyer’s shoulders slump. He finally nods and looks at Rossi.

“What do you need to know?”

“First of all, where did they keep the kids?”


	10. Chapter 10

JJ gradually starts to regain consciousness. She grabs her head and asks, “Hotch? You there?” She gets no answer.

She slowly opens her eyes. Her heart leaps into her throat as she realizes she is in a small, metal crate. Her legs are bent at the knee and she leans against the back of the crate. The top is just a couple inches above her head. The width is just barely more than her own. There are a series of inch diameter air holes around the top edge of the walls.

“Oh, this is so not good,” she mumbles.

She takes stock of herself and sees that she is missing her gun, cuffs and badge (no surprise there) but also her belt, blazer, socks and shoes.

“Okay, that’s kind of random,” she notes.

She feels along the inside of the crate and knows this must be one like Benji Alexander had described.

“So those guys have me. Do they have Hotch, too? Think, JJ,” she commands herself.

She closes her eyes and thinks back to arriving at Gulliver’s house with Hotch.

* * *

 

_Hotch glances in the rearview mirror and up the street. “The locals aren’t here yet,” he notes._

_“They should be here soon. We can wait,” JJ says._

_“No. We need to be on these guys quickly before they start calling each other. This is the only ‘Simon’ on the list so we can be sure he’s the one the Alexander boy heard named. The locals will be here before we’re ready to leave. Let’s go,” he says as he opens his door._

_JJ follows him to the door, scanning the area around them to make sure they aren’t ambushed by anyone. Hotch knocks on the door. They only wait a few minutes before an older woman opens the door._

_“Can I help you?” she asks._

_“I’m Agent Hotchner, this is Agent Jareau of the FBI,” he flashes his credentials. “We’re hoping to speak with Simon Gulliver.”_

_“Oh, I don’t think Simon’s home. Please come in while I check.”_

_“Thank you, ma’am.”_

_Hotch and JJ head into the house. Just off the entryway are two rooms. Hotch steps to the room on the right as JJ steps towards the left. She has just confirmed that room is empty when she hears the distinctive sound of wood hitting bone. Hotch doesn’t even make a sound as he crashes to the ground. JJ spins, her hand going to her gun. She freezes when she sees the woman already holding a .38 on her._

_“Don’t do it, Agent,” she warns._

_JJ looks down at Hotch and then back to the lady. A large man steps from the other room into the hallway._

_“What do I do with her, Mother?”_

_The woman smiles cruelly. “She’ll fit fine in a box, Simon. We’ll hold on to her for now.” The woman shifts the gun until it points at Hotch. “Do anything stupid, Blondie, and I put a bullet in his head.”_

_JJ swallows in fear. Gulliver steps to her and pulls her gun out of its holster. She stares up at him and then sees the butt of her gun racing towards her head. She instinctively ducks and it glances off her shoulder. Gulliver grabs her and slams her headfirst into the wall and that is the last thing she knows until she wakes up in the box._

* * *

“Shit.” JJ rolls her right shoulder and feels the pain where her own gun hit her. She feels her temple, noting the lump but thankfully no dried blood. She leans her head back on the wall of the crate. “Nothing to do but wait…and try not to notice just how small this crate is,” she tells herself, drawing comfort from the steadiness of her voice.

As she is sitting there thinking about Henry and Emily, she suddenly hears crying. She eases around as much as she can and looks through the air holes behind her. She sees another crate near her own.

“Hello?” she whispers. “Who’s there? Can you hear me?”

A soft, sad girl’s voice answers. “Who…who’s talking?”

“My name is Jennifer. Are you in the box beside mine?”

She sees small fingers grip the edge of the air holes on the other box. “I think so.”

JJ stares at the holes until she finally makes out small eyes staring at her box. She eases her own fingers through the holes in her crate so the little girl can see where JJ is. “Hi. What’s your name?”

“My Mommy and Daddy say I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.”

JJ can’t help but smile. “I understand. But I’m a…a police officer,” she says, knowing the child would understand that better than FBI agent. “The bad men brought me here. Just like they brought you. Can you please tell me your name?”

After a long pause, the little girl answers. “I’m Carmen. They made my parents say they wanted to keep me then took me anyway. Why did they do that, Jennifer?”

JJ sighs, knowing there is no easy answer. “I don’t know, honey. But I have friends who will be looking for us and hopefully they will find us soon. If somehow you get out of here, please tell the police that Jennifer Jareau was where you were and that I’m okay. Can you remember that?”

“Yes, Jennifer. But I don’t think they are going to let us go.”

“Why not?”

“Because the one man was talking when they brought you in and he said that they had got to change what they is doing. They said no more free passes. It’s time to make a statement.”

JJ’s heart freezes for a moment. She takes a steadying breath before she responds. “Well, let’s just stay positive, okay, Carmen? I’m sure we’ll be out of here before we know it.” The little girl just sniffles. “Why don’t you tell me about yourself?”

“Like what?”

“Like what grade you’re in, what you like to play, things like that. It will make the time go faster.”

“Okay.” The little girl starts to talk about herself as JJ prays her friends find them soon.

* * *

 

As Rossi paces, waiting for the D.A. to sign off on a deal for Feist, a patrolman runs up to him.

“We just got word that the Carlyle family was hit again last night.”

“What? What about the police protection? Why are we just finding out now?”

“The protective units never saw anyone enter or exit. According to the family the guys came in the back door so they probably crossed through neighbor’s yards to get to the house. When no one left for work, the unit outside just assumed they were taking the day off to deal with the trauma of the situation. It wasn’t until Carlyle’s mother called us and insisted something was wrong that we made entry. The parents and 2 of their kids were tied up in the basement. Their daughter Carmen is gone.”

It takes all the self-control he has to keep Rossi from putting his fist through a wall. He demands that the patrols on the last 2 families actually stay INSIDE the houses. He is still ranting when the rest of the team arrives.

“Rossi, what’s happened?”

“The Carlyle family was hit last night. Their daughter Carmen is missing. The idiots watching them didn’t think to keep an eye on the backdoor.”

“Son of a bitch!” Reid screams. “So they have a kid and JJ! What the hell do we do now?”

“We find them,” Emily states. “What the hell’s the situation with Feist?”

“Nearly done,” Rossi says. “The D.A. is dragging his heels trying to keep from making a deal that could hurt his political legacy.”

“Fuck politics,” Hotch states and approaches the lawyer still reading over the deal Rossi has proposed.

“Sign it,” Hotch demands.

“Look, Agent, I’m not signing anything that—”

“A six year old girl and an FBI agent are missing. That bastard is the only one that can help us find them. Sign it or I will personally make sure you’re political career is over before it starts.”

The man tries to stare down Hotch…and losses. He signs the deal and hands it to the irate agent. Hotch takes it and storms into the interrogation room containing Feist and his lawyer.

“You have 1 minute to tell us where they are keeping the kids or this deal goes in the garbage.”

Feist looks to his lawyer who looks it over and starts to whisper to Feist.

“Thirty seconds, councilor,” Hotch points out.

Feist finally nods…and begins to talk.


	11. Chapter 11

It is nearing midnight. No one has come in to check on JJ or Carmen. The little girl had fallen silent long ago, not even answering any questions from JJ. The agent prays the little girl has fallen asleep. Just when she thinks their captors are going to leave them alone, a door opens. JJ moves towards the sound, staring through the air holes to see what is happening. A large man, his face bathed in shadows approaches her box.

“Who are you?” JJ asks, knowing he is too big to be Gulliver.

His only response is to slam a metal bar into her cage. JJ groans as the sound rings loudly in her head. She hears the sound of something scraping the floor and her box starts to jiggle. She is thrown against the side wall as the entire thing is tilted. She realizes she is on a dolly of some sort and being moved.

“Put it in the van,” she hears a voice order.

The dolly drops her cage to the ground. Two men pick it up and put it in a cargo van. She is shoved towards the front of the vehicle. A few minutes later, they come back with Carmen’s box and she is also shoved into the van. The side door opens and JJ looks out to see the woman who had answered the door at Gulliver’s house. She smiles at JJ, though there is no warmth in the look.

“That little fuck Feist is going to talk. We’ll deal with him later. For now, time to get rid of you and the brat. What was the old saying? Oh, yeah…no body, no crime.”

The woman laughs. JJ shudders knowing the woman is not kidding.

“ _Oh, God…Henry…Emily…I’m sorry_ ,” JJ thinks to herself. Out loud she sounds more confident than she feels, her media liaison training taking over. “You won’t get away with this. Agent Hotchner would have told everyone you’re involved. You’d be better served giving up and then maybe you can make a deal with the prosecutor.”

“Shut up,” the woman sneers…and she pepper sprays JJ.

JJ drops back, pain ripping through her face. The woman and the two men with her laugh and get into the van. A third man opens the bay door of the building they are in before leaping into the back with the crates.

As they pull out, floodlights hit the van. The driver slams on the brakes as police, SWAT and the FBI surround them. One officer ducks into the building and shuts the bay door, cutting off that route of escape. From behind the protection of a police car door, Hotch addresses the scene with a bullhorn.

“Stephanie Williams, Simon Gulliver, Byron Smith, and Joseph Jacobs you are surrounded. Turn off the van, throw down any weapons you have and exit the vehicle with your hands up.”

“Maybe we should do what they say,” Gulliver suggests, his eyes on all the guns pointed at them.

The men look terrified. Williams smacks Gulliver upside the head. “You give up, you die by my hand.” She looks over her shoulder at Smith. “Get the agent up here.”

Smith unlocks JJ’s cage and drags her forward. Her eyes are still worthless, coated with the sticky pepper spray concoction. Williams puts a gun to JJ’s head and rolls her window down.

“Let us out of here or this agent dies. I swear, I’ll put a bullet in her head and then in the kid’s head.”

Emily’s hand tightens on her gun. Even from a distance she can see something is wrong with JJ’s face.

“Has she been maced?” she asks Reid.

“Looks like it,” he confirms.

“I’ll kill the bitch,” Emily vows. Reid just glances at Emily, agreeing with the sentiment.

They watch as two members of the SWAT team rappel down the building behind the van. The men drop silently to the ground as Hotch continues to keep the attention of those in get away vehicle.

“That’s not going to happen. You kill her you die, too.”

“Fuck, Hotch, don’t tempt them,” Emily mumbles in frustration.

“You’re only chance is to let her and Carmen Carlyle go,” he continues, unaware of Emily’s statement. “Now, throw your weapons out and exit the vehicle with your hands up.”

Hotch and Williams glare at each other. All of the sudden, the side door opens and Smith and Jacobs leap out.

“I GIVE UP!” Smith screams.

Jacobs also has his hands raised but seems too scared to speak. Williams spins around to see what they have done. JJ, even barely able to see, takes her chance. She leaps across the lap of Williams and throws the door open. Her momentum pushes her out the door and she grabs a hold of Williams, bringing the smaller woman tumbling out with her. As JJ falls on top of her, the gun in Williams hand goes off.

Time seems to slow down for Emily Prentiss. She can feel herself running towards the van but it’s as if she’s running molasses. Being on the driver’s side of the van she covers the SWAT member who comes from behind the vehicle and drags the driver out and onto the ground. She keeps her gun trained on the man as Reid leaps forward and cuffs him. Once the man is secure, she moves carefully to the front of the van.

She sees Smith and Jacobs already in custody, being led away. She sees Morgan carefully rolling JJ off of Williams…and the smear of red across JJ’s chest.

“JENNIFER!”

Morgan waves Emily over to get JJ. As she runs forward she sees JJ look towards the sound of her lover’s voice. “Emily?”

Emily drops down beside her. “Jen, stay still! WE NEED A MEDIC!”

“EM! It’s not my blood,” JJ says, her voice a bit shocky.

“Wh—what?”

Emily looks beyond JJ and sees Morgan stand up from checking Williams. The dark agent looks to Hotch and shakes his head. The woman is dead, a victim of her own gun.

Emily pulls JJ close. “Oh, God, Jen…we still need to get you a medic. You’ve been sprayed.”

“Yeah. Okay. In the van—”

“They have her, Jen. She’s okay.”

“She was really brave, Emily. Make sure her parents know that.”

“I will, sweetheart. I swear.”

Medics come over and start to wash out JJ’s eyes and cleaning off her face. As her eyes start to readjust, JJ studies her team who are all looking down at her. Suddenly her eyes narrow.

“Em…where the fuck is your cast?”

The members of the BAU all laugh. Well, except for Emily. If JJ’s already got her “mother of the team” voice back she must be feeling better.

“Um, long story. Tell you later?”

“You’ll tell me on the way to the hospital. I know I have to go in so you better, too, and get another cast on your leg while we are there.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Emily answers contritely. “But Hotch said it was okay!” She adds quickly.

“Hey, now, don’t throw me under the bus! You and Garcia had already freed your foot before I saw you.”

“Garcia?” JJ asks. “Oh, it looks like I need to have a serious talk with all of you!”

Morgan looks at the EMT’s. “Um, if you are planning to sedate her, make it a big one.”

The EMT’s and BAU team chuckle as JJ is loaded onto a stretcher. Emily climbs up in the ambulance with her. Though she would never admit it, her ankle is killing her and she is actually looking forward to getting a cast back on it. As they settle into the ambulance, Emily pulls her cell phone, hits speed dial and hands the phone to JJ.

“Emily?” Garcia answers anxiously.

“Can you tell me why you helped my fiancé get rid of her cast?”

There is a long pause. “Uhh…gotta go get Henry. Love you, Jajye!” Garcia hangs up. JJ busts out laughing and hands the phone to Emily. “It’s nice to know you all haven’t forgotten who is  _really_   in charge of this team.”

Emily smiles down at her. “We wouldn’t dare.” She leans down and gives JJ a gentle kiss. “I love you, Jennifer.”

“I love you, too.”


	12. Chapter 12

JJ has just been wheeled back to her room after getting a CAT scan. Despite the ugly lump on her head she actually felt okay so she was sure it would be negative. She is wondering where Emily is when a woman and a young girl come into her room. She smiles, guessing correctly that this is Carmen.

“Hi, Jennifer,” the girl says shyly.

“Agent Jareau, honey,” her mother corrects.

JJ shakes her head, “We’re old friends. Jennifer is fine,” the agent says kindly. “Are you okay, Carmen?”

“I think so. They said I have to drink this medicine stuff tonight ‘cause I’m de—de—um, what’s the word, Mommy?” she looks up at her mother.

“Dehydrated, honey.”

“Right, that,” she says with a nod. “Do you got to drink medicine?”

“I probably will. I’m still waiting to see the doctor.”

Mrs. Carlyle steps towards the bed. “Carmen told us how you talked to her and helped her keep calm and positive. I can’t thank you enough.”

“It was no problem. She helped me stay positive, too, so I’d say it was teamwork. Right, Carmen?” She gives the girl a friendly wink.

“Right, Jennifer.” The little girl bites her lip nervously. “Jennifer, can the bad men get us again?”

JJ looks her in the eyes. “No, honey. The police have them and they will make sure they can’t hurt you anymore. You might have to tell what happened to you but I promise, as long as you tell the truth, everything will be okay.”

“Okay. If I get scared, can I call you?”

JJ smiles and nods. “Of course.” She gives her number to Mrs. Carlyle. “Anytime you have any questions or get scared call me. If I don’t answer right away I might be chasing other bad men but I will call you back as soon as I can, okay?”

“Okay. I have to go home now.” The little girl walks over to the bed and uses a chair to climb up on it. She gives JJ a big hug. “I love you, Jennifer.”

JJ has tears in her eyes as she returns the hug. “I love you, too, Carmen.”

Mrs. Carlyle thanks JJ once more then leaves with her daughter just as the doctor enters the room. “Well, Agent Jareau, everything looks good. You’ll have that bump and bruise for a few days but no concussion or other adverse affects from the blow to your head.”

“That’s because drywall isn’t a strong as rock,” Morgan teases from the doorway. The doctor smiles, gives JJ some continued care notes, and leaves the agents alone.”

JJ smiles at her friend. “You better watch it, Derek. I control how much paperwork you do.”

He laughs. “Well then it’s a good thing I bring two gifts for you.” He sets her go bag on the end of the bed. “We found your shoes, blazer and belt in the warehouse. Thought you might want a new shirt and pants, though, considering the state of the ones you were wearing earlier.” JJ nods. “We’re still looking for your creds and gun. We think they may be in Williams’ car which we haven’t located yet.

“Damn,” JJ says. “Wait you said you had two gifts for me.”

“True. I had some help with the second one,” he gestures towards the door and Garcia comes in with a smiling Henry. JJ’s face lights up.

“Hey, Little Man! Come to Mommy!”

He claps his hands then extends his arms to JJ. She takes him and hugs him close. Morgan and Garcia smile as they see Henry patting his mother’s shoulder, as if he senses she needs the comfort. As the hug ends, they see the tears in JJ’s eyes. “I love you, Henry. So very, very much.” She gives him a big kiss on the cheek and he gives her one in return.

“So,” Garcia asks, “does bringing him get me out of the doghouse about Emily?”

“Only if you tell me what exactly happened.”

“She didn’t tell you?” Garcia asks. JJ gives her an “are you serious” look. Garcia nods. “Right. Of course not.” Garcia tells JJ about the stops at Lowe’s and CVS. She ends by taking JJ’s hand. “Did you really think she’d stay on the sideline while you were missing?”

“No. But it could give Straus more ammo against us.”

“No chance. She never put your safety ahead of getting the job done. Straus hated to admit that to Hotch.”

“Straus? She was there?”

“Oh, yeah. With all the injury reports she was getting she wanted to personally oversee the extraction of you and Carmen. I think it really pissed her off that the only one shot was Williams and she shot herself.”

JJ and Morgan laugh, knowing that Garcia is probably right. “So, how soon until Emily is ready to go?” JJ asks.

“They wanted to take new x-rays to make sure she didn’t do any damage to the bones. Surprisingly she didn’t argue,” Garcia tells her.

“Probably because it hurt like hell, was twice the size it should be, and a rather nasty shade of purple,” Morgan points out.

“True,” Garcia agrees. “But if you get dressed we can take you down to her room.”

Ten minutes later they are entering Emily’s treatment room. The profiler smiles as she sees JJ and Henry. “Hi, Jen. Hi, Henry.”

The little boy stretches towards Emily. JJ passes him over and lifts the sheet covering Emily’s ankle. Her eyes widen when she sees Morgan may have been downplaying it’s condition.

“Whoa! It swelled more!” Morgan notes.

Emily groans. “Yeah. They aren’t able to recast it yet.”

“What?” JJ asks angrily.

“They’re giving me a soft cast and crutches. No weight bearing on it for at least a week,” Emily says contritely. “I’m sorry, Jennifer. But Hotch and Rossi were hurt. You were missing. I had to do what I could to help.”

JJ stares at Emily a moment, then sighs. “I’ll forgive you. This time.”

Emily smiles at her. Henry, meanwhile, is up way past his bedtime. He pulls at Emily’s lips with one hand as he starts to suck on his other first. Emily knows exactly what he is asking. She gives him a kiss and starts to sing a lullaby in another language. JJ, Morgan and Garcia watch as the little boy falls into a contented sleep in his Mama’s arms. As she finishes, Garcia smiles at her.

“What was that?”

Emily looks up. “It’s an Italian lullaby a nanny I had used to sing to me. I didn’t even know I remembered it until one night I was putting him to bed and it just came out.”

“It’s beautiful,” Garcia tells her.

Emily looks down at the sleeping boy in her arms. “So is he.” She gives him another kiss on the forehead. Morgan wraps his arms around JJ and Garcia as they wait for Emily’s doctor to get back to her room.


	13. Chapter 13

Hotch tells the team not to be in Thursday morning until 10 a.m. By the time they arrive, they all have an email from Straus demanding a debriefing at 11. They exchange glances, knowing this could get ugly.

As the team goes into the conference room just before 11, they find Straus already there, having used the back door to get in unseen. They see she has a stack of files in front of her. Reid and Morgan help Emily get settled. As soon as the entire team is there, Straus stands.

“Though it goes without saying that the outcome of this case is satisfactory, the path to that conclusion is not. We are going to address all the negative issues in turn.” She lifts the top file. “Agent Rossi, how is it you came to be shot?”

He raises an eyebrow. “Because a bad guy had a gun, Erin.”

She looks at him with disgust. “ _Chief_  Straus, Agent. I’m asking how he got the drop on you and why you were not protected by Agent Morgan.”

Rossi lays a hand on Morgan’s arm to stop his protest. “ _Chief_   Straus, the only way Morgan could have protected me was to throw himself in front of me. I wouldn’t want him to do that and we still would have been an agent down if he had. We had no idea the suspect we went to speak with had been tipped off that we were coming. We didn’t even know for sure if he was a viable suspect for these crimes. In the field, we don’t go in draped in Kevlar, guns drawn just to talk to someone.” The last comment is a direct jab at the chief’s lack of field experience and she knows it. She makes a note in the file and lays it to the side.

“Agent Hotchner, how did you allow Agent Jareau to be taken hostage?”

Hotch grits his teeth. He felt bad enough about what happened he didn’t need Straus making him feel worse. “We were invited into Ms. Williams’ house. As we entered, JJ cleared the room to the left. I started to clear the room to the left and was struck with a baseball bat to the head. After that I couldn’t exactly stop them from taking her.”

“Why didn’t you wait for police back up? Were you so eager to be a hero that you were reckless?”

“He wasn’t being a hero and he wasn’t being reckless,” JJ interjects. “The police were 4 minutes behind us. We were just going to question someone. We didn’t expect to be attacked the way we were.”

“Agent Jareau, I will speak to you soon. For now—”

“No, you’ll speak to me now.” JJ stands and stares at Straus. “You can come in here and try to second guess our every move. You can worry about image and politics and everything else in this ivory tower. But in the field, ma’am, we have to worry about finding the unsubs, saving lives, and getting home safely at night. To try to lay blame for anything bad that happened means discounting all the good that was done. We stopped these bastards before they could go after more families. We stopped them before they got away with Carmen. And they were stopped before they could get away with me. This team functions as a unit, as a family, and we get the job done. No laws were broken. No local toes were stepped on. We did everything by the book and as a result the leader of this gang of assholes is dead and the little fucks she commanded are going to jail. That’s what you should be focused on. Not all the bullshit you want to throw in our faces.”

Someone walking into the room might have thought the people inside were mannequins. No one moves as JJ finishes her rant. She and Straus are locked in a stare down. Later there would be a question about whether anyone even breathed during those tense moments. Straus slowly lowers the folder in her hand to the table.

“And do you even know  _why_  this happened, Agent Jareau?”

It is clear Straus expects the answer to be no. But JJ and Emily had talked most of the night about the twisted motivations behind the attacks on these families.

“Williams was a foster mother to Gulliver, Jacobs, Smith, Feist and Kruse at different points in their lives. All the men had been put into foster care after their parents were deemed unable to care for all their children. Williams, herself, was the unwanted daughter of a man who only wanted sons. She convinced all the men but Kruse that they should make other families feel as bad they felt. The stealing was to figure out how many kids were in the house. My team found evidence of 17 other break-ins that were committed by this gang in the greater Northern Virginia area. In conclusion, our actions stopped 19 other families from dealing with the terror of having to choose a child to live and having that child taken.”

Straus can’t hide her surprise. She looks pointedly at Emily, knowing she is the only reason JJ was able to answer the question. Emily stares back emotionlessly. Straus looks in turn at each of the members of the team. She sees the pride in Hotch’s face and the smugness in Rossi’s. She sees the dedication to JJ in Reid’s eyes and the admiration in Morgan’s. She gathers her folders.

“Well done.”

She walks out of the room. As the door closes behind her, a collective breath is released. JJ drops into her chair, her legs no longer able to hold her up. “Did I really just do that?”

Morgan claps her on the back. “You sure did, Giant Killer. Nice job!”

“She clearly expected to trip you up. She should have known better,” Reid points out.

Hotch can’t hide his smile. “Get your reports in and take the rest of the day. All of you.”

He leaves the room, followed by all but Emily and JJ. Emily reaches over and takes JJ’s hand. “How about we take the rest of the week? We can take Henry and go see your parents. That sound good?”

JJ smiles at Emily. “That sounds perfect.”

After a quick hug, the two women head out. Emily, concentrating on getting her crutches through the door doesn’t see the woman sitting at her desk. JJ, however, does.

“Em? Your desk,” she whispers.

Emily looks up and stares at Caroline Weston. “Obviously some people are harder to get rid of than Straus,” she mumbles to JJ.

JJ grins and heads to her office, trusting Emily to deal with the persistent redhead. Emily makes her way slowly to her desk. She looks down at Caroline.

“I could really use my chair about now,” she says dryly.

“Oh, of course,” Caroline says, standing up.

Emily lowers herself into her chair. She pulls out her bottom drawer and props her foot up on it. She sees Morgan and Reid both pretending not to watch what is going on. “Can I help you with anything, Agent Weston?”

“Oh, so it’s ‘Agent Weston’ now, is it?” She leans in close but says loud enough for Reid to hear. “I remember when you only used that when playing seductress.”

Emily’s face flares red. She glances across her desk at Reid and sees he is also blushing. She looks back up at Caroline, this time the anger evident on her face. “I’ve tried being nice about this, Weston. Now I’m going to be blunt. Leave me alone. I’m not interested in rekindling   _anything_   with you. Is that clear?”

Caroline just smiles wider. “Oh, Emily, I love it when you get forceful. Trust me, sweetheart, you don’t just fuck me and forget me. I’ll see you later.”

She turns and heads out of the BAU offices. Emily holds up her hand, stopping the questions from Morgan and Reid before they start. “She’s an ex. It ended badly. Enough said, okay?”

The men both nod, seeing that Emily is extremely uncomfortable with the confrontation that just happened.

“Emily, we’ve got your back on everything, not just cases. Okay?” Morgan tells her.

She nods, grateful for the statement but preferring to just let the matter drop. What she hadn’t seen is Weston skip the elevators and instead head to JJ’s office. She knocks on the door and smiles at the blond.

“Hi, Agent Jareau, I’m Caroline Weston. I’ve just transferred to Anti-Terrorism.”

JJ smiles, knowing exactly who the woman is and wondering what game she is playing. “Hi. Welcome to Quantico.”

“Thanks. Look, can we talk a minute? Girl to girl?”

JJ is a bit stunned but nods her head. “Uh, sure. I guess.”

Caroline walks in and shuts the door. “I just wanted to give you a word of warning about Emily Prentiss. I know you’re with her. It’s the worst kept secret in the building.”

“I see.”

“She was all set to marry me about 5 years ago. Then she was offered a promotion and she dumped me for it. Never even asked my opinion on it or gave me a chance to talk her out of it.”

“Well, I appreciate the warning but I think I’ll take my chances,” JJ tells her. “Now, I really need to finish up my report on our latest case.”

“Oh, of course. Well, I guess my warning wasn’t needed. Tell Emily I’m happy about her move to the White Collar Crimes Unit. She should have a lot of fun with that.”

JJ is too stunned to respond. Caroline uses that time to leave the office. JJ considers all she knows about Emily and shakes her head. “She wouldn’t. The BAU is her dream. Isn’t it?”

JJ then remembers Emily’s mother cautioning Emily to find a safer position now that she has a family to consider. She looks out her door and sees Emily working on her case report. JJ shakes her head and cusses herself.

“Emily wouldn’t do it without talking to me. Stop letting a jealous ex screw with your head, Jareau,” she chastises herself.

She sends a quick email to Hotch asking if she and Emily can have a comp day on Friday so they can go visit her parents. She is nearly finished with her report when she gets his okay. She smiles. This long weekend is just what they need.

“What’s got you all smiley?” JJ looks up to see Garcia standing in her doorway. “Still celebrating your smack down with Straus?”

JJ laughs. “No. We’re heading out for a long weekend to see my parents. I’m just looking forward to getting away for a while. Especially with that ex of Emily’s lurking around trying to drive a wedge between us.”

Garcia stiffens. “A wedge? Between the cutest couple the agency has ever seen?” She leans forward conspiratorially. “Do I need to do a ‘thing’? She can be in Fargo by Monday if you give the word.”

JJ stands up and moves around her desk to give her friend a hug. “No need to do a thing yet, Garcia. But it’s good to know you’ve got my back if I need you.”

“Always,” Garcia confirms. Then her eyes widen. “Hey! Are you and your mom going to do wedding stuff?”

JJ shrugs. “Probably a little. But mostly I just want to lay around and do nothing but hang with my fiancé and my son. We’re off call this weekend and I want to take full advantage of it.”

“Good idea. But you better hurry and start settling on some things. Before you know it the Redskins bye weekend will be here and you’ll be scrambling to get things done in time.”

“True. Tell you what, if we discuss anything I’ll shoot you an email.”

“Okay. And I’ve got so many AWESOME ideas I’ll get a PowerPoint presentation together and get it to you so you can see what I’m thinking.” She pauses in thought. “Do you think Emily will go for wearing a uniform and the minister being dressed like a ref?”

JJ busts out laughing at the thought. “Uh, no, Garcia, I don’t see this being the ultimate football fantasy wedding. Just a little football influence.”

“Okay.” She starts to leave then turns back. “Cheerleader and football player as cake toppers?”

“Garcia!”

“Fine, fine. See you later, Jayje. Love you!”

“Love you, too, Garcia.”

By 1 p.m. JJ and Emily are ready to go. Emily opens her drawer to slide some case files inside and sees the forgotten gift box. She picks it up and shakes her head. She considers just tossing it in the trash but thinks it may mean something to Caroline. She sticks it on her desk then opens a new email.

_Caroline,_   
_Your paperweight is on my desk. If it’s still there Monday I’ll assume you don’t want it and throw it away._   
_Emily_

She hits send and immediately turns her computer off, not wanting to deal with a reply. Throwing the shoulder strap for her briefcase over her head she gathers her crutches. She meets JJ at the elevator and they head home to get packed and head out to East Alleghany for the weekend.


End file.
